A Christmas Carol
by moonswirl
Summary: Gleekathon, days 790-794: And as Christmas morning loomed, Sue Sylvester would be visited by three spirits...
1. Marley's Ghost

_Started my daily ficlets to make the hiatus pass, then decided to keep going with a 2nd cycle, and then a 3rd, 4th, etc through 37th cycle. Now cycle 38!_

_**PRE-CHRISTMAS NON-CHRISTMAS:** It's already my third holiday season of Gleekathon, woo! So happy about that :D Anyhoo, just to explain what I'm doing for it this year: How it goes is I always have a set of stories with Christmas-y titles but non-Christmas-y plots, so to give an air of the season but not too much ;) First year was '12 Days of Christmas', last year was 'Reindeer'. This year's theme is "Christmas Movies" :) It'll run from December 8th to 19th, after which I have a slightly bigger undertaking to take us to Christmas Eve... **PRE-CHRISTMAS: **And now from December 20th to 24th, a five-part story, Christmas indeed! :D_

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><p><em><strong>INTRODUCING "CHEAT SHEET" - <strong>If you want to know ahead of time when a certain series will be updated next, just reassemble the link below and check out the list, save it, print it, bookmark it, whatever you need!  
>Go to: <span>gleekathon [dot] tumblr [dot] com [slash] cheatsheet<span>_

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><p><strong>"A Christmas Carol"<strong>  
><strong>Sue, Brittany, etc<strong>  
><strong>Sylvesters Series (getting ahead of myself to get to the Christmas ep ;))<strong>

**1. Marley's Ghost**

It was all in a Grinch's work. It had taken quite some time to complete her methodical destruction of the choir room's Christmas cheer, but she had achieved it. She had nothing to show for it, really. She would be going to an empty home, as Brittany was spending this Christmas period at her father's. She'd insist that it was just a matter of spending the season with her other family, something she hadn't truly gotten to experience until very recently, but Sue couldn't help thinking there was more to it than that. Like maybe Brittany had gone and decided that, with this being her favorite holiday, she couldn't stand to be around her mother and their whole rift. She'd made her choice, and Sue would respect it… Didn't mean she had to like it though. So if anything, this whole business with the Glee Club was something to keep her occupied, to help her stay the course of what she'd started.

The next couple of days, she hadn't seen her daughter. It was probably just as well… seeing her face right now would probably make everything come right back into reality. Odds were she would have swallowed up the story she'd given her, before telling her to go home, and that she wouldn't connect her mother's involvement in the Glee Club's ransacking. It was just as likely though that she'd wise up and this would be the thing that would push her over the edge, and she would no longer believe in her mother.

What would happen to her if that happened? It was a thought that plagued her constantly, now more than ever. It would spin around and around, but either she tried to block it out or she didn't know how to respond. She would get so taken up in the scheming and it was easy to lose control. But then she had Brittany, and she had her sister… They brought out that humanity in her. Jean, she'd visit when she could, which wasn't necessarily too often, but Brittany… she was there for her, always… most of the time… less now that she was sharing her time with her father… and that she was trying to get her to quit Cheerios. Some days she couldn't remember why she was doing it anymore, but then she would… And then sometimes she just let herself get taken to the dark.

The empty house was getting very close to doing her in. By mid-evening she'd just sit up in her bed, watching television until sleep took her, on its own or with some help. Another day gone away, another one closer to this stinking season being done so maybe just maybe she could get her daughter back…

She felt a chill, and just the slightest hint of drool at the corner of her mouth… Had she fallen asleep? She must have… But she knew she hadn't left the window open, so where was this whistling breeze coming from… She thought she heard a voice, and the first thing she thought was 'perfect, nothing I'd love more than to trash a burglar around right now.' She stalked out of bed, grabbing the first swing able heavy object she could locate – a trophy, what else in this house – and she went in search of the dumbest person in Lima, Ohio… They had to be, if they thought breaking into her house was a good idea.

She made it into the living room, and whatever was happening, it was definitely coming from there. She firmed her grip on the trophy, face rigid and prepared as she leapt in… But there was no one. She frowned, taking a step forward. She could still hear it, from… behind? She spun around and right there, before her eyes, she saw… a ghost… That wasn't an exaggeration. What else could she call the colorless image of her father standing before her, quiet, her deceased father.

She startled, backpedaling until she tripped and fell on her back, needing a moment to feel enough air in her lungs so that she could sit up and look upon the image once again. "Dad? How…"

"Susie, we need to talk…" his voice sounded hollow, that was the only word she could come up with.

"You're dead," she stated.

"Nothing gets by my Susie," he pointed at her, looking almost normal for a second, except there was something much more pained than she'd ever known about him, weighing him down like chains. "Or at least I thought so."

"Alright, I think I've had quite enough. I'm sure any moment now I'll wake up and you'll be back where you belong, which is dead and buried and probably good riddance," it didn't take long, looking at 'him' for memories of how distant they had become by the end to resurface.

"Right as always, Susie."

"Please don't call me that," she frowned, somehow less interested by the idea that he should be standing there and more so with the need for him to be gone before her evening got even more depressing, since she'd apparently resorted to hallucination. She moved to leave, but then a chair slid in her way. She turned around again, after being startled.

"It's not that simple, and you are going to listen to me."

"You're not my father, I don't have to do anything…"

"Aren't I?" He approached her, and the chills on her arms felt so, so real. "This is no black out dream, and I should know. You and I are a lot alike… Susie," he made a point of it, letting the word boom and echo. "Too much alike, and that's why I'm here, to warn you."

"You stopped acting like a father a long time ago so why should I act like a daughter?" she frowned. "We're not alike…"

"Do you truly believe that? Do you?" She didn't reply. "Now your daughter… My granddaughter…"

"You never met her, never even knew she existed, I protected her from that disappointment," she felt her rage reignite at the mention of Brittany coming from him.

"I'm dead, we have ways of knowing. That's a good girl you've got there."

"What would you know?"

"As I was saying, I have come to warn you, Susie. I've come to warn you what will happen if you continue on this path with your daughter. I realized too late how much I was taking my own daughters for granted and look where that got me."

"I don't know, is it warm?"

"Pay attention now, because your evening is only just beginning." She looked at him, frowning rather than speaking. "You will be visited by three spirits. If I can't show you, then I hope they will."

"What are you talking about?" she asked, but it was too late… he was gone. The room was normal again, and she moved to pick up the trophy she'd dropped in her fall. "I really have to check the expiration date on that bottle…" she shook her head, checking the trophy for scuffs.

"Evening, Coach." Her head rose at the sound of the voice, not hollow here, just plain and normal but still so out of place. She turned around and found none other than Kurt Hummel standing leaning against the door frame, in an outfit she could only describe as Victorian like…

"Porcelain…" He gave a courteous little smirk.

"Not tonight. For you tonight I am the ghost of Christmas past…"

TO BE CONTINUED (TOMORROW)

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><p><strong>COUNTDOWN TO 801: 11 DAYS<strong>


	2. The First of the Three Spirits

_A/N: Second chapter! :D_

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><p><strong>"A Christmas Carol"<strong>

**2. The First of the Three Spirits**

Sue took a few steps up toward the boy. He didn't blink or break. "Do you honestly believe I'll buy that? You're no ghost."

"True, Kurt Hummel is alive and well… doesn't keep me from using his likeness for the purposes of this night," he rose back from his lean on the door frame. "Are you ready?"

"Ready for what?" Sue sneered.

"Great, he didn't explain it," Ghost Kurt spoke to himself with a groan. "Alright!" he turned back to Sue with his previous expression restored. "It's like this: I am the ghost of Christmas past. So you're going to come with me…"

"I'm not going anywhere with you."

"… and I'm going to show you the person you used to be," he continued, unchanged.

"Are you listening to me, I'm not…"

"… going anywhere with me, yes, I heard you," he took her hand. "I'm just not going to listen, alright?"

"No, that's not…" She stopped, suddenly finding herself in a room that wasn't the one she'd been in a moment ago. And yet she recognized this place, it was…

"Welcome home, Sue Sylvester," Ghost Kurt indicated out with his arm.

The living room they stood in was fairly plain, but in one corner there stood a massive Christmas tree, decorated and shining and twinkling. And on the couch, small and innocent, was a four-year-old blonde lying wide awake as she clutched a plush bear and stared fixedly at the fireplace, a grate closing out the opening. Sue looked at the girl, crouching to see her better and still being in absolute shock.

"That's…"

"That's you, Sue. Don't worry, she can't see or hear us. Do you remember this night?" Before she could respond, the small Sue suddenly bolted off the couch, scrambling off up the stairs.

"Well I know where she's going." And a moment later they were there, in her big sister's room as little Sue came in, climbed into the bed and gave a careful nudge at her arm.

"Jeanie?" the child begged, whispering. "Jeanie?" she tried again a little louder a few seconds later. Sue saw her sister's eyes open, and she bit back the urge to cry, seeing her so young again.

"Sue? What's wrong?" young Jean asked the girl sitting next to her.

"Santa can't come, he's not going to be able to get in, what about our presents?" young Sue begged.

"Yes he will, because he's magic," young Jean insisted, a calm smile on her face.

"He is?" young Sue asked, and her sister nodded.

"Even if he doesn't, that's okay," she shrugged.

"But why?" young Sue seemed completely astounded by this. Young Jean took up her sister's hand, made her lie down at her side.

"You're happy now?" young Jean asked, and her sister nodded. "You like… the tree and the lights and the decorations?" she asked, and young Sue nodded again. "You like Christmas?" she got a third nod, and for it she got that wide and happy smile Sue would love to get, even to this day.

"I don't remember this…" she shook her head, looking to Ghost Kurt, not even managing to hide her tears from him.

"Don't you?" She frowned, looking back to the bed and the girls, but then they were gone and she saw that they had moved again. They were back in the living room they had first left, only it didn't look the same, it looked like…

Her eyes fell to the couch, finding a very similar scenario… a very similar little girl. She knelt by the couch, her hand reaching, almost touching the four-year-old… her baby girl… She was just as innocent, more so, if you took into account what the previous child they had visited had become, and what this one would become. In her arms of course it wasn't a teddy bear that she clutched but a blue hippo by the name of Blippo.

"She looks a lot like you," Ghost Kurt commented; she'd almost forgotten about him.

"In some ways, but not everything. She's got a lot of her father in her, a lot of that Pierce side. I didn't give her all that much…"

"Of course you did."

"What would you know, you don't even know she's mine," she threw back at him.

"Okay, again, not actually Kurt Hummel. If I was, I would not know some of the things you do, trust me, that'd be a relief," he persisted. She would have been ready to throw a retort right back at him, but then the small Brittany, who'd been asleep, was now awake, and she sat up, looking around the room. She frowned, got up and stalked off. Sue and Ghost Kurt followed the child, one behind the other. They followed her all the way to her mother's room, where she threw the hippo on to the bed before hoisting herself up on it and crawling up to…

"Mommy?" she shook lightly at the slightly younger Sue.

"Go back to bed, Brittany, it's not morning yet," came the muttered response.

"But Santa hasn't come yet!" young Brittany went on, scooting up to her mother to bend over her and see her face. The half-asleep younger Sue caught up her daughter and placed her at her side, much to the girl's giggling squeals.

"Santa won't forget you, I promise, you have nothing to worry about," younger Sue told her, trying to fight back a yawn. "But do you remember what I told you the other day about Santa and Christmas?" Young Brittany thought about this, then gave a sigh.

"It's not just Santa and the presents. It's the whole Christmas, even without the presents," she replied with effort. She got a kiss on the forehead for her troubles, making her laugh. Even the present Sue laughed along, though she stopped when she remembered she wasn't alone. She looked back to find the ghost smirking with his Kurt Hummel-like face.

"Do you mind?" she told him.

"You remembered, some part of you did. Do you remember what happened when it was morning?" Sue recalled it, again fighting against the smile.

"Santa came, of course I knew he would, or she would, since it was me… But she waited to open them, wanted us to have breakfast first. That's what we did, every year after that."

"What about last year?" Ghost Kurt asked. Sue looked back to him.

"Is that where you're taking me next?" But then they were back in the living room, the one they had first left. He moved to stand at the door.

"No, you know what I think I made the point I was trying to make. I also think my colleague will do just fine in picking up where I left off."

"Colleague?" Sue asked.

"You didn't think this was done, did you?" Ghost Kurt asked, laughing. "You're only just beginning." Then there was the honk of a car outside. "And that'll be your ride. Off you go," he opened the door for her, pointed for her to go. Sue hesitated, but he just went on pointing.

"You ghosts sure are a pushy bunch, aren't you?" she stepped out the door and turned to look back at Ghost Kurt, but he was gone. The honk rang again and Sue saw the car idling at the curb. "Since when do ghosts drive?" she spoke to herself, approaching cautiously; it was still the middle of the night after all. She leaned in to see who was inside and sprang back to stand with a groan.

"Hop in, Sue!" Emma Pillsbury leaned across the passenger seat and opened the door. Sue stared at her, sighed and did as told, again knowing they wouldn't leave her alone.

"And who are you supposed to be?"

"I'm the ghost of Christmas present. Buckle your seat belt, we have to get going."

TO BE CONTINUED (TOMORROW)

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><p><strong>COUNTDOWN TO 801: 10 DAYS!<strong>


	3. The Second of the Three Spirits

_A/N: Middle chapter, cheers!_

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><p><strong>"A Christmas Carol"<strong>

**3. The Second of the Three Spirits**

The drive was silent… at least for Sue. The Emma-shaped ghost, driving, hummed along to the radio as she kept an attentive eye to the road. Sue looked around the car. It could have been Emma's actual car like it could have been a completely random car… she didn't pay attention to these things. At the very least the car was extremely clean, and she would expect nothing less of Emma, real or the figment of her crumbling mind. So many questions were cropping up in her head and she hated that she was getting pulled into actually wondering these things.

"Explain something to me, if we're supposed to be invisible or whatever it is, then does this car even exist?" The ghost Emma laughed, practically giggled.

"Ghosts are coming to you, and that's what you latch on?" she asked, making a sudden swerve and then hitting the breaks, sending them both lunging forward before landing back in their seats. "Here we are, first stop," she breathed out.

"This better not leave a mark," Sue complained, reaching at the seatbelt which had been made to press into her chest.

"You'll be fine, now come on," Emma reached for the door handle, and Sue's next breath was taken inside the choir room at McKinley High.

"Where are we… going," she saw they had moved. "What am I doing here?" she asked, tensing when she saw not just where they were but when they were. It was just a few nights ago, late at night, the floor covered in the debris of what had once been the Glee Club's Christmas tree and decorations, a cheerleading coach with a green face and a Santa suit… and a girl with blonde braids, carrying a dollhouse. Sue looked to the ghost. "What does that have to do with anything?"

"Oh it has everything to do with it," Ghost Emma told her. "You walk a very fine line between right and wrong, most days, and then right in the middle, there she is…" she looked to Brittany, smiling as she handed her dollhouse to 'Santa.' "Here you are, after you've done all… this…" the ghost motioned to destruction with the sensibility of someone who did not do well with messes. "But then there she is, and everything changes."

"She is my daughter," she pointed out.

"Yes, she is. She's also a proud member of the McKinley High New Directions Glee Club," the ghost spoke, hands clasped together.

"I'm aware of that," Sue frowned.

"Okay… Well why did you lie to her? Because she would believe anything you told her? Because you didn't want her to be upset with you? Because you didn't want her to stop believing in that jolly man in the red suit?"

"You're the ghost, why don't you tell me?" Sue steeled herself to her.

"Because I don't know everything, not what made you do any of it. I just know what happened…" the ghost stepped back out into the hall, and now Sue was there as well. She looked at the red-haired woman, feeling dread invade her.

"What are you saying?" Sue demanded, watching her daughter leave the choir room and head down the hall. She hadn't seen her after that day, had something happened to her? "Brittany!" she called out.

"She can't hear you," Ghost Emma reminded her. Sue started to run after her, but it was as though her limbs refused to go.

"What are you doing? Let me go after her," she insisted. She turned again, but then they weren't in the same place. They were back in the car. "You've got to be kidding me," she reached for the handle.

"Please buckle up, we'll be at our next destination in no time.

"Is this how you get your fun? Plant ideas in people's heads and then take them for a car ride?" she bit into the last words. "Tell me what happened." Ghost Emma looked at her, reached for the door handle and then they'd moved again.

Sue took a breath, looked around… the Pierce home, Brittany's room, Brittany… She was there, lying on her bed, turned to the wall. One of her legs was in a clean-looking cast, stopping just under her knee.

"No, but… that's not what happened…" Sue frowned, circling the bed to try and see the girl's face. She was crying, with such sadness… Sue couldn't take her eyes off her. "She was fine. She is fine. They would have called me. Why would you…"

"After she left, she doubled back to ask a question. And then she saw you, and she recognized you. All the lies, the one you made her say and the ones you told to her, it all came together. She didn't see the car…" Sue just shook her head; this wasn't possible. "You know on some parts you are a much better mother than you or anyone would ever give you credit for. Letting her continue to believe, I wouldn't have expected that."

"I don't have to explain myself to you," Sue spat.

"Oh, I'm not asking you to. But clearly a part of you knows what you're doing is wrong, yet you keep doing it. Don't tell me it's because you're bored, I won't believe that," Ghost Emma shook her head.

Suddenly they were down in the Pierces' dining room, and by the activity she imagined it was Christmas day. Brittany sat between her sisters, crutches just within reach behind herself, with Joe, Charlotte, and Grandpa Joseph all around the table as well. Sue wasn't there, though she didn't look missed.

"Just what is so scary about this?" Ghost Emma asked the Sue that was with her. "A family, together… a family that includes Brittany? Are you so concerned that she would decide to replace you?"

"She wouldn't," Sue shook her head, determined.

"No, probably not. But give her enough reason and she just might decide the view is nicer on this end… easier to deal with, to breathe in, when there are no secrets or betrayals. A leg heals easy, give it a few weeks. A heart is another matter, especially a child's. Family is family, she'll find one for herself and it might not include you anymore. That's why they scare you, isn't it?"

"He's her father, what do you want me to say?"

"I wasn't just talking about the Pierces," Ghost Emma told her. Sue looked back around, and they were back in the car, from which she could see Brittany slowly making her way down the path that led to the sidewalk, helped by Santana. She couldn't hear what was being said, but the way Santana smiled and nudged at the blonde it would seem like she was trying to cheer her up, with such care…

"Where are they going?" Ghost Emma had something of a smile that wasn't reassuring or discouraging. She reached for the door handle, and they were in a basement she didn't recognize. They were all there, the Glee Club, Schuester, the piano player and the band, even the actual Emma Pillsbury. Like at the Pierces', the Christmas spirit had the room filled to the brim.

"She never told them, you know? That it was you? Oh, they knew, of course, because who else would do that to them, I…" The ghost stopped at the look she got. She cleared her throat. "She told one, only one, and they kept her secret… your secret. They already knew so many of those secrets."

"You're telling me I lose my daughter, and this is what you choose to discuss?" Sue's rage was boiling.

"Okay, I think that's enough driving for one night," Ghost Emma gave a courteous nod. They were back in the car, parked in front of Sue's house. "Well this is where I go on my way and you go on yours. Go on in, your final visitor should be along soon, just…" her face shrank. "Be careful?" she begged, then sat up. "Now get out," she nodded. Sue wouldn't be sad to be rid of this one, so she left the car, stomped up to the door. She didn't look, but judging by how the evening had been going she could imagine the car had already disappeared.

She got up, pushed the door… it gave no resistance. She was on alert, especially in the pitch dark room. She turned on one light, barely missing running into a trophy. There was someone else there, she could feel it. "Alright, who's there? Another ghost? Don't need to be so cryptic, I think I can figure out where this is going by now."

"Do you really?" a booming voice startled her and she looked around to come almost face to face with a figure in a long dark robe with a hood, coming off almost like some grim reaper… Only the hands that emerged from the sleeves were female, slender, and as they grabbed at and pulled down the hood she realized who they belonged to. "Ready to test that theory?" Santana asked.

TO BE CONTINUED (TOMORROW)

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><p><strong>COUNTDOWN TO 801: 9 DAYS!<strong>


	4. The Last of the Spirits

_A/N: Second to last chapter! Merry Christmas Eve's Eve! ;)_

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><p><strong>"A Christmas Carol"<strong>

**4. The Last of the Spirits**

Sue watched the girl walk around the dark room, the robe flowing in her wake. She'd crouch to look at one trophy, pick up another, squint to read a plaque, nod to herself. "Do you have a favorite? Do you give it a good polish every week?" she joked.

"So who are you supposed to be?" Sue asked, taking the trophy she held out of her hands.

"I am the ghost of Christmas yet to come… I know my colleagues aim for the sweet and the bittersweet… but wait until you see what I've got for you." She offered her hand. "Are you ready?"

"If I say no, will you go away?"

"Of course not," Ghost Santana chuckled.

"Yeah, I didn't think so," she put her hand in hers, surprised for a moment that she was actually able to do so, but that thought quickly went away as her eyes went from the darkness of the living room to the too bright daylight of a snowy day. She let go of the ghost's hand in order to cover her eyes. "Where are we?"

"Lima, Ohio… You're not asking the right question," Ghost Santana shook her head.

"When…"

"December 24th… more than ten years in your future… and her future. Notice anything else?" Sue looked around. All the houses around them were decorated, to one level or another. Lights, wreaths… all of them except the one they stood before.

"So, what, this is where I live? I chased my daughter away so now I'm all alone, is that what this is?" she looked back to the ghost, who didn't say a word; she looked down the street. Sue turned to look, finding a car coming up and driving on to the driveway. A woman emerged from the driver's seat. It took her a second to realize who it was and she gasped. It was Brittany alright, but there was something else. It wasn't just that she was older, physically. Regardless of age, her daughter had always had this brightness of spirit that made her… extraordinary. Looking at her now though, it was gone. "But…"

"There's more," Ghost Santana told her. The older Brittany moved to open the door to the back seat, and then out came a small girl, blonde, no more than four years old. Sue was amazed at how much she looked like her daughter when she was that age.

"She's… This is her house?" her voice broke. As a response, the ghost offered her hand once more. Sue took it, like somehow she would be taken to a place that would erase the image she was being presented with. The next place she found herself was inside the house, as the older Brittany and the girl entered. Brittany crouched to undo the small blonde's winter jacket, take it off along with mittens, hat, scarf and boots. The girl was out of breath, cheeks rosy from the cold.

"Go wash up before lunch, okay?" Brittany told her daughter, smiling and touching one of those cheeks.

"Okay, mommy," she nodded and ran off. Brittany hung up the clothes, took off her own jacket and boots. She moved into the kitchen, and Sue and the ghost followed.

"She's not raising her alone, is she?" Sue looked to the ghost.

"You tell me," Ghost Santana shrugged, indicating her hand. Sue looked back to the older Brittany, looked to her hand and saw a wedding ring.

"But it's Christmas Eve," she shook her head. She knew what the house was supposed to look like at this point. Back in her time, the moment December began the house took an air of holiday magic… This house had about as much Christmas spirit as a lump of coal.

"As far as she's concerned, it's December 24th… and nothing more," Ghost Santana told her.

"What about her… her daughter…" Sue asked, watching her own daughter putting together two plates.

"As far as she's concerned…" Ghost Santana nodded along as she repeated.

"… it's December 24th," Sue finished the sentence, closing her eyes.

"After what happened that year, she just stopped believing. Not just in Santa Claus but in the holiday as a whole, the time, the spirit… Losing that part of herself, it took down a lot of other things along with it."

"So I killed her…" Sue spoke, flat and near tears. "I killed… who she was…" she shook her head. Just then the little girl ran into the kitchen, took her place at the table.

"She gets by fine. She loves and is loved, she has a good life, with joy… but she's empty, in places she should be full, bursting at the seams. Her daughter has never known her as she once was." Sue looked back to the table, as Brittany set the plates and sat with the girl, who grabbed her fork and went hungrily at the food on her plate.

"Take it easy, no one's going to take it from you," Brittany laughed. The girl stopped mid-bite, swallowed and nodded. Sue was laughing too; Brittany had been the same. That should have made her feel better, but it didn't. And then she felt the ghost take her hand once more. She blinked and they were in yet another living room, in the older Brittany's house. There was no tree in this one, no small blonde child on the c…

The girl came climbing down the stairs, one at a time. Her long hair was made into a braid, and from her pyjamas and slippers Sue guessed it was night time. Clutched in her arms was a plush dolphin. She scooted into the living room, looking around before going up to the fireplace. Hunched over, she tried to look up into the chimney.

"What is she doing?" Sue asked the ghost. Then the girl startled, spun back around… looking up.

"Who are you?" she asked. Sue hesitated, looking back to the ghost.

"She can see me?"

"Who are you talking to?" the girl asked.

"Just you," Ghost Santana revealed. Sue looked back to the girl, whose blue eyes hadn't left her. She took a few steps and crouched in front of her.

"It's alright, I'm… a friend," she explained, giving a reassuring smile. "Who's your friend?" she indicated the dolphin. At the mention of the toy, the girl squeezed it protectively.

"Fishy," she declared. "Because she's not a fish, but she's from the ocean…"

"So she's fish-y," Sue chuckled. "I like that," she told her, and the girl smiled with pride. "What's your name?" she asked.

"Susie," she answered, and Sue felt her throat close up, hand reaching to cover her mouth for a moment.

"That's a… a pretty name," Sue told her. "What were you doing over there?" she pointed to the fireplace.

"Looking for someone…" her voice had gotten low, almost a whisper, so Sue did the same.

"Who's that?"

"Santa," Susie whispered now. She took a step toward the stranger. "Mommy says he's not real," she pouted, looked down to Fishy.

"What do you think?" Sue asked.

"I don't know," she shrugged, with something like sadness in her eyes. Sue looked back to the ghost, who nodded in a sort of 'go on, you know what you have to do' way. She looked back to the girl… her granddaughter…

"Can I tell you something, Susie?" The blonde nodded. "You mother, she doesn't… she doesn't really care about this time of the year, does she?" She frowned, lost. "Christmas…" Susie blinked, understanding, then shook her head. "I see… Do you know she used to?" Susie's eyes went wide.

"She did?" Sue hesitated, wondering if… She reached out and touched the golden braid resting over the girl's shoulder… contact. Sue breathed out, picking up the girl and sitting her on her lap as she herself sat on the couch nearby.

"When she was your age, she couldn't wait to decorate the house, and the tree. Lights, and bells, and garlands, everywhere it was just magical," she told her, and Susie beamed. After a moment, a question emerged, making her frown again.

"But she doesn't do that," she shook her head.

"I know, I… It's kind of my fault. That's not important though. What is important is this, and I want you to remember, you think you can do that?" Susie nodded and smiled. "Okay," Sue smiled back. "I know it's a shame that your mother took this experience away from you when she took it away from herself, but you know what? That's okay."

"It is?" Susie tilted her head.

"You love your parents, right?" Susie gave a resounding nod. "Every day?"

"Every day," she confirmed.

"Then that's what matters. You just show them that tomorrow, can you do that?"

"Yes," Susie went on nodding. "Really, really hard." Sue smiled.

"Good girl," she offered her hand and Susie high fived it. "Let's get you to bed," she got her back on her feet, throwing a look to the ghost who'd been standing by in silence throughout the exchange. Ghost Santana gave an approving smile, standing back and following as Sue guided the girl up to her room. Susie climbed into bed and Sue pulled the covers over her.

"Good night, Susie… good night, Fishy…" The girl giggled quietly. Sue got back to the door, turned back to look at her. "Close your eyes now, okay?" Susie did as told, while Sue walked out of the room, though she did pull one eye open, as Ghost Santana reached to shut the door. Her eyes locked on to her, connected to her. The ghost held a finger to smiling lips and the girl retreated into bed, shutting her eyes to fall into a sound sleep.

At the bottom of the stairs, Sue looked back to the descending ghost, robe billowing around her. "That was very touching, Coach, really."

"Is she going to be okay? Are they going to be okay, both of them?" Sue asked. Ghost Santana didn't answer. "Hey, did you hear me?"

"Time to go home, Sue," the ghost offered her hand. Sue smacked it away.

"I asked you a question."

"Ooh, I'm shaking," Ghost Santana mocked, grabbing the woman's hand. She didn't have time to complain; they were already back in her own darkened living room.

TO BE CONCLUDED (TOMORROW)

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><p><strong>COUNTDOWN TO 801: 8 DAYS!<strong>


	5. The End of It

_A/N: Final chapter! However stay tuned for tomorrow's (separate) story, as it's a semi-sequel to this :) Merry Christmas Eve!_

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><p><strong>"A Christmas Carol"<strong>

**5. The End of It**

Up until then, she'd been following what these so called ghosts told her to do, out of some effort to be rid of them: she was humoring them, nothing more… But this was a whole other story. "Now listen here, Casper, I've been pretty accommodating while you and your buddies have been taking me left and right all night, making me see what I lost and what I've done or will do to my daughter, but I've had enough."

"Your voice just got loud," Ghost Santana stood tall, crossing her arms before herself.

"Yeah, it does that." Sue turned to find Ghost Emma had returned.

"Always shouting," now Ghost Kurt appeared back as she'd first seen him.

"You three, sit down," she pointed to the couch. The ghosts looked to each other, decided they were better off to quietly do as told. They sat in the order they had come.

"She's kind of moody right now," Ghost Santana explained to the other two.

"Oh… I can make tea," Ghost Emma offered.

"I don't think that's…" Ghost Kurt shook his head, putting his hand to her arm.

"Quiet!" Sue called, and the ghosts all faced forward at once. "You," she pointed to Ghost Santana. "You still have a question to answer. Are my daughter and her daughter going to be okay?"

"She still thinks she's in charge," Ghost Santana rolled her eyes, while the other two bit their lips not to laugh. "Look, all we're doing is try to help you, and you're not being all that thankful."

"She's right," Ghost Emma spoke in hushed tones while Ghost Kurt silently shook his head in reprimand.

"Help me with what exactly?" Sue frowned.

"You know for an educator you do show some trouble with learning," Ghost Emma suddenly asserted herself, sounding every bit like her non-ghost counterpart.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"For years you've been making your daughter lie about who she really is, whose family she belongs to. Thank your lucky stars she's who she is, that she's kind, that she loves you so much as to perpetrate this whole story… so she could be near you," Ghost Kurt stated.

"But now she's got this new family. Her father, stepmother, sisters… Will Schuester, the Glee Club… I can understand, someone like you, having to consider someone else coming into her life and offering her so many chances to just be herself… that wouldn't be easy, it'd mess with your head… most of all being that a lot of it is because of what you've done," Ghost Emma picked up the talk. "But you love her, too, and you try… in your own way… to make things better for her. Except your methods kind of have this way of… bringing as much harm as help…"

"This is about consequences, Sue," Ghost Santana rounded it up. "Actions have consequences. A lot of the time you can't know ahead of time what those consequences will be, but in your case I'd say you had to know something very bad could happen. I'm guessing you weren't thinking that far ahead though, were you? That what you did now could alter who one person grows up to be, that it would affect someone that hasn't even been born yet, like Susie." The other two ghosts looked at her, clueless. "Granddaughter," the one with insight to the future provided, to a chorus of 'awww' from past and present.

"What happens to her?" Sue brought them back on track. "Susie… What happens if I change something?"

"She stays as she is, she gets better, she gets worse… she ceases to exist… How do you ever know for certain?" Ghost Santana shrugged.

"But if I do nothing, then that's how she stays, that's how they both stay…" Sue shook her head, pacing.

"Not necessarily," Ghost Emma piped in, hand half raised as though she'd been called on during class. "I… Well, you'll see," she waved it off.

"Are you beginning to understand?" Ghost Kurt resumed the conversation.

"Suppose I do. What happens now?" Sue asked.

"That is entirely up to you," Ghost Santana nodded. "Hopefully we've given you some perspective. So many things about your future I didn't even begin to cover, but I think you got the parts that matter the most… to you," she bowed her head.

"Now this is the part where we go away," Ghost Kurt got up, followed by the others. "And you wake up." Sue frowned, unsure what was happening, but then…

Her eyes were met with the glare of early morning daylight. Sue looked around and saw she was back in her bed. She sat up, waiting for… something, anything that would tell her what had just happened. Was this real? Was it a dream?

"Better have been a dream…" she muttered under her breath.

So she had gotten up, went about things like it was all business as usual. Soon she was at McKinley, back in her office with Becky, following through on the aftermath of what they'd done to the choir room, the night when…

They heard the music, faint in the distance, and they went out looking for it. They reached the teachers' lounge where they stood in the door and watched… There was the Glee Club, standing there, singing joyfully to the audience of the faculty who got up to make donations from time to time. Despite all she'd put them through, they were still standing, and why wouldn't they: they had each other and…

What if it wasn't a dream? She saw Brittany wasn't there, so what if she was laid out somewhere, her leg in a cast, even though her mind persisted that this wasn't how it had happened, that she would have been informed, by one person or another, if her daughter had been in an accident… After she'd left the teachers' lounge and sent Becky on her way, Sue tried to reach Brittany, calling home, Joe's, Joseph's, her cell phone… nothing. She knew if it was that she had her cell phone it was entirely possible it was silent and she just didn't know, but then at the same time what if something was wrong…

But then she heard a commotion, so many voices talking and this odd sort of mechanical sound, all coming from the choir room. She could see Beiste just walking away from there, with an odd look on her face, so Sue went up to see as well… and there she was… Her girl, her beautiful girl, vibrant and full of life and standing on both her feet… She was fine, the ghost had lied, she wasn't hurt… although wasn't she? The hurt may not have been physical, but she knew that under the façade of Brittany the Cheerio there was a truth she kept all to herself. Maybe it was all the years of practice at holding that secret that made her so good at it. But underneath there was that hurt that all came right back to her and what she'd done, the hurt that made her daughter decide to spend Christmas with her father and his family instead of her. Suddenly, real or not real, everything she'd seen the previous night felt so very real.

It wasn't even seeing that her leg wasn't broken, which would mean she hadn't had the accident and hadn't come to that realization like how she'd seen with the ghost the night before… it wasn't that which made her so relieved to see her now, no… it was the look on her face, the look of hope and happiness… After seeing that empty woman she had grown up to be, having lost that hope, seeing her like this again… She couldn't stay, not there, or her emotions would have gotten the best of her, in front of everyone… So she'd gone back home. She sat in that living room, trying to decide once again if it had been real or not. She looked to the trophies, tried to remember which ones the ghost Santana had touched and/or moved, but she couldn't tell. She looked to the cushions on the couch but had no way to see if they'd been sat on… Did ghosts even leave impressions like that? So many questions, but not a single answer…

"Mom?" the voice drew her back to reality so suddenly, and she hadn't heard the door… was this another ghost? Then there she was, in the living room with her.

"Brittany, what are you…"

"I saw you at school today," she started. "I wanted to go talk to you, but you'd left… Did you see what Santa brought Artie?" she beamed, still barely able to stand still at the thought.

"Yes, I… that's very generous of him."

"Santa is very generous," Brittany confirmed, then paused. "That's why I'm here."

"Oh?" Sue wasn't sure what else to say.

"I'm sorry I reacted the way I did, about Christmas…"

"You don't have to apologize," Sue shook her head. "I should be the one to…"

"Why?" Brittany asked. Sue hesitated.

"I'll tell you later," she promised, standing up and carefully approaching. "May I?" Brittany smiled.

"Do you have to ask?" she hugged her mother, and her mother hugged back. "Oh, but wait…" she pulled back. "There is something you… we can do," she smiled.

"What's that?" Sue asked.

"Make Christmas again… with Mr. Schue and the others in Glee Club? Santa might be too busy with Christmas and everything to bring our tree back in time, so…"

"Yes, probably," Sue agreed, breathing out at the sight of her daughter standing there so happy. She didn't expect this to be a permanent fix, with all that had and still needed to happen, but under the cover of Christmas she wasn't about to complain. "I think we can arrange something."

THE END

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><p><strong>COUNTDOWN TO 801: 7 DAYS!<strong>


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